By Mark LaPedus, SemiMD senior editor

The race has started in the next-generation, mobile DRAM market — and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has taken an early lead in the arena.

Samsung claims it has developed the industry’s first LPDDR3 (low power double-data-rate 3) device for the mobile DRAM market.  Based on 30nm-class process technology, the monolithic, 4-gigabit (Gbit) LPDDR3 device is geared for mobile applications such as smartphones and tablet PCs, according to Samsung.

The Korean memory giant has announced the LPDDR3 device even before the JEDEC standards body has finalized the specifications for the technology. The other DRAM makers – Elpida, Hynix and Micron – are also developing LPDDR3 devices before the ink dries on the specification.

Mobile DRAMs are specialty DRAMs with low power features.  LPDDR3 DRAM is needed to support faster processors, higher resolution displays and 3D graphics in high-end, next-generation mobile devices.

Vendors are developing LPDDR3 devices for good reason: Today’s mobile systems are expected to hit the bandwidth wall in the future, thereby requiring LPDDR3 or other next-generation memory technologies.

As a result, LPDDR3 DRAM is expected to replace the current and slower mainstream mobile memory technology in the market, called LPDDR2 DRAM. According to iSuppli, the market for LPDDR3 DRAM will expand sharply starting in 2013.

“We expect that LPDDR3 will be the next generation of LPDDR2,” said Hank Lai, product planning and memory marketing at Samsung Semiconductor Inc. “We expect (the) migration to LPDDR3 from LPDDR2 will be faster and shorter than migration to LPDDR2 from LPDDR1.”

Current mobile systems, including smartphones and tablets, are generally using two types of DRAM in their systems. The first technology is LPDDR2 DRAM, the predecessor to LPDDR3. The second are 1.35-Volt versions of plain-vanilla DDR3 SDRAM. Today’s desktops and notebooks use 1.5-Volt versions of DDR3 SDRAM.

In the iPad2, Apple Inc. is using LPDDR2 DRAM, analysts said. Many of the non-iPad products in the market use DDR3 SDRAM.

There are trade-offs. The LPDDR2 devices consume less power, but are more expensive than DDR3 SDRAM. “Mobile OEMs are using LPDDR2 mainly. However, a few netbook or tablet PCs from PC-based OEMs may use low-power DDR3 (DDR3L) due to cost considerations,” Lai said.

LPDDR2 has a maximum throughput of 8.5 Gbytes/second, with an estimated power consumption of 360 mW. LPDDR3 has a peak throughput of 12.8 Gbytes/second. Samsung claims its new LPDDR3 device consumes 20 percent less power than LPDDR2.

Currently in development in the JC-42.6 subcommittee within the JEDEC standards body, the LPDDR3 standard promises to provide a smooth upgrade path from LPDDR2. Although JEDEC is still working on the LPDDR3 standard, Samsung wants to get an early jump in the market by announcing a part, said Mike Howard, an analyst with IHS iSuppli.

LPDDR3 will eventually become a standard, and “should see a faster adoption rate than LPDDR2,” Howard said. “It’s getting a lot of attention, especially on the Ultrabook front.’’

He was referring to Intel’s recently announced plans to develop a mobile system with a new, smaller form-factor, dubbed Ultrabook. Meanwhile, starting next quarter, Samsung will begin sampling the 4-Gbit LPDDR3 chips. The chips are expected to be adopted next year in next-generation smartphones and tablet PCs, according to Samsung. .

The new 4-Gbit LPDDR3 DRAM from Samsung can transfer data at up to 1,600 megabits per second (Mbps). This is approximately 1.5 times faster than the industry’s current highest performance LPDDR2 device, which operates at 1,066 Mbps.

In addition, by stacking two 4-Gbit chips, Samsung is enabling use of a single 1GB LPDDR3 package, with a data transmission rate up to 12.8 Gbytes/second.

Samsung did not announce pricing for the device. For some time, mobile DRAM has been sold for a premium, compared to commodity DRAM. “Mobile DRAM pricing has been falling faster than usual lately,” Howard said. “It’s not hurting as much as commodity DRAM, but it is definitely feeling the pain.”

Tags: LPDDR2, LPDDR3, Mobile DRAM, Samsung, Semiconductor

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 at 6:46 pm and is filed under Top Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.